First Call for Proposals on Scientific. and Technological Cooperation 2011

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1 Israel-Italy Joint Innovation Program for Scientific and Technological Cooperation in R&D First Call for Proposals on Scientific and Technological Cooperation 2011 The Directorate General for Political and Security Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Italian side, and the Ministry of Science and Technology for the Israeli side have decided to provide financial support for joint projects carried out by scientists/researchers from both countries, within the framework of the activities foreseen by the Agreement on Industrial, Scientific and Technological Research and Development Cooperation between Italy and Israel (hereinafter - Agreement ) and in particular under the Sub-Committee for Scientific Cooperation,. Italian-Israeli research teams are hereby invited to submit joint research proposals in the following areas: 1. Marine Research and Oceanography 2. Environment and Health ( * ) It is planned that the projects that have been awarded will begin in October 2011 Deadline to submit applications is Monday, May 16 th, 2011 at 1:00 GMT. Eligibility Proposals must meet the following preconditions. Those which do not meet the preconditions will be automatically rejected, and will not be passed on to the scientific subcommittee for review and evaluation. 1. Projects should be proposed jointly by both Italian and Israeli teams. Each research project will be coordinated by two Principal Investigators (PI), one for each country. 2. The Principal Investigator on each side must be affiliated with an academic institution or a public or semi-public research institute (hereinafter "research institution"). Researchers from industry may take part in the program as partners in a team headed by a Principal Investigator. ( * ) Please refer to the Guidelines in Annex 1 1

2 3. The proposal submission must include the application form appended to this call, and the accompanying supplementary documentation as defined in the Application Form. 4. Proposals for which funding is approved, which include experiments with animals, must submit the approval of the relevant Committee for Experimentations on Animals before the project can start. 5. Proposals for which funding is approved, which involve human beings, must submit the approval of the relevant Helsinki Committee before the project can commence. Proposal Review The proposals will be evaluated by a scientific committee on each side. A joint Israeli-Italian scientific subcommittee, composed of representatives from each country, will then jointly evaluate the proposals and decide which proposals will be funded. Evaluation will be based on: 1. Conformity with the definition of program research topics above; 2. Significance (quantitative whenever relevant) of the problem being addressed, and the potential impact of the proposed approach on solving it. Proposals should address these issues explicitly and provide as much evidence as possible; 3. Scientific merit, with emphasis upon the originality and novelty of the proposed research; 4. Clarity and quality of the research proposal itself presentation of the topic, definition of research objectives, presentation of research methodology and detailed program of work; 5. Feasibility of the research program; 6. Practical applicability of expected research findings; 7. Prospects for continuation of the research collaboration within other funding frameworks, such as the EU Framework Program for Research and Technological Development; 8. Extent of genuine collaboration between the Italian and Israeli research teams; 9. The level of involvement of young researchers. Funding Support The parties to this Call intend to fund research proposals selected hereunder for the two year duration of the project. However, funding must be approved on an annual basis, with the funding for the second year to be approved in 2

3 accordance with the provisions of the research contract. The parties to this Call reserve the right not to fund a second year of work for scientificprofessional, administrative or budgetary reasons. The responsible agencies reserve the right at their sole discretion and in exceptional cases only to extend the project's period and budget by up to 12 additional months. The total framework of funding for all projects approved under this Call is 400,000 Euro for each side for the period of two years. Funding will be given to joint projects requiring a maximum budget of up to 20,000 Euro for each side per year per project. Projects must be planned on a two year basis. A selected project can therefore receive a maximum of 80,000 Euro total funding, for both sides for the two years of the project. Contracts will be signed accordingly. Each side will fund the projects according to their respective rules and regulations. The Israeli (MOST) will finance 100% of the additional costs of its side of the project, those being costs related to the bilateral nature of the project (travel expenses of the researchers, scientific meetings, etc.) as well as to defray costs incurred by the approved research project (disposables, publication costs, etc.). Project funds may be used to finance monthly salaries of non-permanent research staff members retained specifically for the project. Specific provisions regarding permissible use of project funds are set out in the research contract. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will finance 50% of the full costs of its side of the project as follows: there will be a reimbursement of up to 50 per cent of all direct and indirect costs. In particular the reimbursement may cover the sum of networking expenses (organizational meetings, traveling expenses, publication costs, short term visits of senior and junior researchers), and managing costs (activation of grants for young researchers, monthly salaries of staff researchers for the percentage of time estimated to be dedicated to the project, costs of existing facilitiesfor the usage dedicated to the project - and new facilities needed for the research). Mutual Visits Participating scientists are encouraged to plan extended visits to their counterparts institutions. As long as the visits are an integral part of research collaboration, international travel and in-country living expenses of visiting scientists should be included in the project's budget. International travel costs should be included in the budget of the visiting side, while in-country living expenses should be included in the budget of the host side. The visits must 3

4 take place in Italy or in Israel only. Visits to third countries may not be financed by project funds. Contracts 1. Upon approval of a project proposal, separate contracts will be signed in Israel and Italy, respectively, between the responsible agency and the research institution of the relevant Principal Investigator. 2. Intellectual property rights in regard to the project or arising there from will be set out in a separate agreement between the relevant Italian and Israeli research institutions and the funding agencies. Reports Reporting requirements for each national research team are set out in the research contract between the research team's affiliated research institution and the funding agencies. These include a final scientific and financial report covering the work carried out during the entire two-year project period, which must be submitted within two months of the conclusion of the project as well as interim financial and scientific reports. Note: The Israeli PI must submit a scientific report to the Ministry of Science and Technology two months prior to the end of the first year of the research contract, together with the application for continuation of research funding. Application Forms 1. This call for proposals and application forms are available at the following internet addresses: Submission of Project Proposals The application form and accompanying material must be submitted by each PI in English in 6 copies to: 4

5 In Israel Mr. Avi Anati Deputy Director-General for Planning & Control P.O.B Tel: /73 Fax: In addition: The application forms in Israel must be submitted electronically to the following (in pdf or doc format) and in Italy to the following Ms Alessandra Gambogi Ministero degli Affari Esteri P.le della Farnesina, Roma Tel: Fax: dgap8@esteri.it Applications must include all required information and documentation, as indicated in the instructions found on the application form. Important: both the Italian and Israeli sides must fill out their applications identically, including a full, identical description of the project (appended separately to each application). However, each side's principal investigator (PI) is to sign only his/her own application, together with the members of his/her own country's research team and official authorities, and is to append the detailed budget of his/her research team only. 5

6 Additional Information in Italy Additional scientific information may be obtained from the following: Office of the Scientific Attaché Emabssy of Italy in Tel Aviv Additional administrative information may be obtained from the following: Alessandra Gambogi Ministry of Foreign Affairs P.le della Farnesina, Rome, Italy Tel.: Fax: dgap8@esteri.it Additional Information in Israel Additional scientific information may be obtained from the following: Dr. Husam Massalha Division Director, Environment and Agriculture P.O. Box Tel: /2 Fax: husam@most.gov.il Additional administrative information may be obtained from the following: Mr. Avi ANATI Deputy Director General For Planning & Control P.O. Box Tel: /3 Fax: avi@most.gov.il 6

7 Mrs. Yehudith Nathan Division for International Relations P.O. Box Tel: